Learning about the Disney Dining Plan

Disney and Universal each offer people who stay in their on-site
hotels pre-paid dining plans for use at their resort restaurants.
These dining plans provide convenience by taking care of your meal
costs with a single purchase. They can provide value if you eat
enough and make the right selections so that you end up paying less
for your meals than if you’d ordered them individually in the park.
But if you’re not careful, you could find yourself paying for meals
that you don’t eat, and locked out of dining choices you’d wanted to
try.

If you’re not planning to stay at of one Walt Disney World’s
on-site hotels during your next trip to Disney World, well, Disney
hopes that its dining plan might help convince you to change your
mind. The Disney Dining Plan is available only to guests of Disney’s hotels who book a
vacation package through Disney.

The benefit of the Disney Dining Plan is to make a Disney World
vacation more of an all-inclusive experience, one minus the hassle of
paying for individual meals and snacks. It’s up to you to decide if
that’s a better deal for your family than paying as you go in the
parks. You must buy the dining plan for the entire length of your
stay on-site, and it is priced as part of your overall vacation
package, so the prices below are only a rough estimate. Keep in mind
that Disney sometimes offers steep discounts, including free dining
plans, on its vacation packages during the off season, usually for
stays in the early fall.

Walt Disney World offers three variations on its dining plan:

Quick-Service Dining Plan, with two counter-service meals and
one snack per person per night of your stay. Meals include an entree
plus dessert at lunch and dinner. The 2016 price per day works out
to about $44 for adults and $19 for children, ages 3-9, who must
order from the kids’ menu.

Regular Dining Plan, with one table service meal, one
counter-service meal, and one snack per person per night. Meals
include an entree plus dessert at lunch and dinner. The price is
about $64 per day for adults and $23 for children.

Deluxe, Premium, or Platinum Dining Plan, with three meals
(table service or counter-service) and two snacks per person per
night. Table service meals include an entree as well as appetizer
and dessert for lunch and dinner. Counter-service meals include an
entree (including combo meals) and dessert at lunch and dinner. The
price is about $115 a day for adults and $35 for children.

All meals include one, non-alcoholic beverage. You can add a wine
option onto your plan for an additional charge. All packages also
include one refillable drink mug per person, which can be refilled at your hotel’s quick-serve restaurants, but not anywhere else on
property. Not all menu options at all meals at all parks and hotel
restaurants will be available for people using the Disney Dining
Plan, though the vast majority are.

Do note that the Disney Dining Plan does not include tips
at table service restaurants. (Please, don’t stiff your server!
Waiters and waitresses in the United States should get a gratuity
equal to 15-20% of the pre-tax, non-discounted cost of a meal.) You
also should know that certain “signature” restaurants will
charge two meal credits, rather than just one, for your meal,
which could leave you having to pay out-of-pocket for another meal at
some point during your stay, unless you’re willing to skip a meal for
every signature restaurant meal you have.

If your intent with the Disney Dining Plan is to create an
all-inclusive experience, don’t forget that by staying at an on-site
hotel, you won’t be getting the free or pre-paid breakfast that you
might at many off-site hotels. So if you want to avoid paying
out-of-pocket for any meals during your Disney vacation, you’ll need
to go with the Deluxe or above dining plans, the only options that
cover three meals per day. If you’re curious, the Premium and
Platinum dining plans offer the same benefits as the Deluxe dining
plan. They are included in Disney’s “Magic Your Way"
Premium and Platinum vacation packages, respectively, and Disney
slaps the fancier name on the included dining plans for those more
expensive overall packages.

Finally, note that for those Deluxe Dining Plans, you’re paying
the same whether you eat two courses at a cheaper counter-service
restaurant or three courses at a more expensive table service one. As
you can probably guess, that encourages people on those plans to eat
at as many table service restaurants as possible. That’s the reason
why advance reservations have become so hard to get at so many Disney
table service restaurants. In the days before the Disney Dining Plan,
it was rare to be shut out of a time at any Disney World restaurant
if you called a few days in advance. For many locations now, it’s
just as rare to be able to get a time if you wait until a few
days before your arrival to call.

So, should you do it? It's time to do some math. Let's look at that Quick Service Plan. Given that snacks cost around $5-6, you're looking at paying about $19 for each walk-up counter service meal you eat under the plan. Would you spend more or less than that, on average, without the plan? Walt Disney World provides up-to-date menus and prices for all of its restaurants, on its website and its app, so you can price what you might like to eat in advance. That will help you decide if a plan, or which one, is a good deal for you. For many visitors, the Disney Dining Plan doesn't really become a deal unless you're eating almost all your meals in higher-end restaurants... and using a higher-end dining plan to do it. As always, your mileage will vary. For some people, each version of the plan represent a good deal. For others, none do. It just depends on how much and what you prefer to eat.

Finally, remember that just selecting a Disney Dining Plan doesn’t
guarantee you a seat at any restaurant. You’ll still need to make
priority seating reservations by calling 407-WDW-DINE or booking
online up to 180 days before your visit: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/